All language subtitles for Wrong.Man.S01E06.Christopher.Tapp.Flawed.Freedom.720p.AMZN.WEBRip.DDP5.1.x264-NTb

Angie Dodge's life
was cut short last night.

It was a horrible shock
to her friends and family.

She's almost decapitated.

The perpetrator
clearly left his DNA.

They pull in Chris Tapp.

Chris... you could
push him around a little bit.

Detective Fuhriman
wouldn't back down.

How dare he?

IFPD had me programmed

that Chris was part
of my daughter's killing.

There's no physical evidence
that puts him there.

-Yeah.
-Period.

But people were confused.

Why would someone admit to
something that they didn't do?

I was on a campaign to say, "They
wronged him. They wronged me.

They got
the wrong person."

These are people
that lived

right in that neighborhood
in 1996.

We're gonna get the right
guy on this one. We have to.

It is the judgment of
the court that you are guilty

of the crimes of murder
in the first degree and rape.

It is the order of the court
that you be sentenced

to the Idaho Penitentiary
for a term of life

plus 15 years
with 30 years fixed.

Prison is a dog-eat-dog world.

You know,
survival of the fittest.

So, you learn
how to survive in here.

The facility that we're at
right now,

I've been here for
a grand total of 10 years.

I was out of state for a year,

you know,
county jail for a few,

and then
maximum-security prison

here in Idaho for eight years.

So, I've spent a lot of 22-,
23-hour days in a cell.

This is it.

I... Everything that...

I've been living on
for the last 20 years.

So...

Try to get as comfortable
as you can.

So, Carol,
you've met Ira and Joe.

I have.
Great guys.

They're here
helping me out, and...

Welcome, guys.

She knows this case
better than anyone.

Carol has been
the driving force.

She's kept this visible.

She drove the police efforts.

I mean, Carol Dodge has been
the one who's kept this alive.

All three of us here,
we're trying to figure out,

who was in
that neighborhood?

Who would've had access
to Angie?

Who had familiarity
with the home?

Because it's not in the police
reports. It's not documented.

The neighborhood canvas
is the absolute key

to solving
homicide cases.

And that... it was never done.
It is 101.

It...
It was never done.

You know, they tried.

I mean,
you see they're actually

entering tag numbers
on the vehicle canvas.

Those were my tags.

I used to take them lists
of license-plate numbers.

Okay.

There's specific doors
at the police station

called the Carol Dodge doors

where you have to have
a-a code entry to get in, uh,

because they got tired of Carol

just coming
into the police station

and just hounding the police
all the time.

She keeps us on our toes.

We have great empathy for her,
um, and she's very adamant

about finding the killer
of her daughter.

That woman was driven,
and she is still driven.

There was a number of things
they could've done,

and I think
we need to stop focusing

on what
they didn't do.

Yeah, there's nothing we can do
about what IFPD didn't do.

They still haven't done
anything for her.

Carol has asked
for 1,001 things,

and they haven't helped
that lady.

She's the one that's done
all this work for them.

So,
let's get a map out.

Let's talk
to everybody

that's in that neighborhood
back then.

And that's how you're gonna
identify a perpetrator.

Right.

Oh, it's beautiful
out here, isn't it?

It's amazing.

I thought
it was gonna be cold.

Yeah, I did, too.

I, uh... I thought
it was gonna be a lot colder,

at night, especially.

Hey, I'm sorry
to bother you.

-Does Brent live here?
-No.

Brent?

No Brent?

It's pretty quiet.

Might be out back.

Hi. I was looking
for Shane.

Okay.

Maybe this is him right here
in this truck.

Nope.

How you doing?

I was looking
for Zach.

Hey, we're looking
for Corey.

Y-you expect him back or...

Unh-unh.

Don't have a Corey here
at all?

Hi. How are you?
I was looking for Corey.

No Corey here?

Oh.

It's almost impossible
to reconstruct that neighborhood

Yeah,
a lot of people have moved,

but Joe and I,
we had a opportunity

to go out
to the crime scene.

Yeah,
and they clearly overlooked

the behavioral clues
of that crime scene.

Here's that deck, Ira.
Right there.

See,
and everybody's theorizing

that the guy climbed up
and went up there.

But it doesn't make
any sense.

No.

How do you even know she's
up there unless you know her?

Yep.
Huh?

Right. I mean, let's
think about it.

There's no way you look through
that window and see her...

Right. ...unless you see her
out on the balcony.

But even that...
Far away.

...they wouldn't know
if somebody's in there with her.

Yeah!
Mnh-mnh.

The more
I look at it,

somebody knew
she was up in there.

Yeah.

So, this is the only set
of stairs in the house, right?

Yeah.
Okay.

This is it.

These are
the original stairs.

Oh, man.
You can certainly hear them.

It's a short distance,
though.

And somebody could
climb up here easily.

Oh, yeah.
Absolutely.

Especially if
you're younger.

No, it's not hard
to get up.

But it's still a lot of
trouble just to... Yep.

This perpetrator
could've easily climbed up

and easily escaped off the roof,
but when we looked at that,

we didn't really
believe that he did that.

Yeah,
I-I agree, Ira.

You're more observable
in the back, to me,

than you would be
just walking off the street

and walking
right into the house.

The landlady said
that she heard steps about 4:00

and listened to make sure
the door closed. Yes.

I think somebody came
straight through the front door.

Yep.

I'm thinking
that they knew her

and went right up in there
and knew she was there.

Just looking at the scene,

whoever is our perpetrator,

there is more intimate
familiarity with Angie

than I
originally thought.

You know,
and they didn't have to have

this up-close,
intimate relationship,

but who's coming
and going

out of that neighborhood
routinely

that would have had a reason
to interact with her?

So, you have to think
of the service industry,

and the service industry is
everything from pizza delivery

to the newspaper person
to the... to the meter reader.

You know, I don't think
the service industry

was ever looked at
back then.

Looking back through
the police report,

I found this phone-repair man.

He... He worked for
the phone company there.

He had done a service for Angie,
so I wanted to talk to him

because of his contact
with Angie

when he was in the apartment.

So, I called him up
on the phone.

Hello.
I am a private investigator

calling about a case
from 21 years ago,

and you were interviewed
on the case.

And it was about the death
of a young girl

over in Idaho Falls.

Do you recall that?

Huh.

This might kind of, um, help
you remember a little bit...

the police had spoken with you,

and you had performed
some kind of a service

at the apartment of the
young lady who was murdered...

You recall that?

Yeah, and I was gonna tell you,

her name is Angie Dodge,
so if...

Oh, your daughter
actually knew her, huh?

Really?

But not many of the customers
you've talked to get killed.

Well, next time you're gonna be
in Idaho Falls,

let me know if you got
any more information.

Well, I appreciate you
coming down here.

With Angie, you remember
talking to her... Yes.

...and you remember she told you
about some problems. Right.

Tell me about that
the best you can remember.

She indicated
that she was getting...

harassing phone calls
and...

what could she do
about it?

And at that point in time,
I told her

that she would have to
contact the police

or our
security department.

Was there anything else
that was strange or odd?

Having daughters
close to that same age,

you... you... you...
you walked away

and you go,
"Man, I feel bad.

Wished I could
do something.

I think
there's something wrong there,

but I don't know
what it is."

Then to, a few days later,
see it on the news,

I told my wife, I said,
"Hey, I-I was just over there."

So, then I called
the police,

and I told them that I'd been
there on a trouble report.

She told me that she was getting
harassing phone calls,

and basically...

that's as far
as it ever went.

Herky,
to be honest with you,

one of the things
that I'm doing

is getting
male individuals

who have had contact
with Angie...

we're asking them
if they'd provide DNA.

That way, we can make sure that,
you know,

we're not overlooking
a potential suspect.

Is that something
you're wiling to do?

Probably, yeah.

Right now,
what we are doing...

we're collecting
more DNA samples

from persons of interest.

I'm kind of, uh, prepared
with each house I go to

or each person I contact,
I have a, um, DNA swab,

and basically,
what I ask the person to do

is take the swab out
and put it inside their mouth,

and then I have them
place it into the box,

uh, seal it up, and that's it.

The way forward on this

is to check
as much DNA as you can

until somebody
finally matches.

My experience
in wrongful-conviction cases

has been the surest way
to get an innocent person out

is to find
the person who did it.

Absolutely. It's sort of like,
"Take a penny, leave a penny,"

but it's with
human beings.

Howdy.
I was looking for Steve.

Are you related or...

Oh.

You actually could save me
a lot of time.

Why would you ever
provide your DNA?

I mean, the short answer,
people are dumb.

Ron,
some people will give DNA

because they know they weren't
involved, to be fair.

Some people want to say,
"Hey, you know what?

I want to help find out
who killed that person,"

because some people aren't suspicious.
Some people aren't defense attorneys

that prepare
for things like that. And some people aren't guilty.

People want to do
the right thing.

Steve's on, basically, what we
call a person-of-interest list,

but there's a real simple answer
and that's DNA.

You being his father,
would you give me a DNA sample?

Okay.

It was kind of a productive week
out there.

I got DNA from quite a few
persons of interest.

There's a guy that
committed suicide two years

almost to the day
of the murder,

and one of the reasons
that I'm interested in that

is that to our knowledge,
there haven't been

repeated crimes
linked to the crime-scene DNA,

and I was able
to track down his brother.

Hi. You're James?

I'm a private investigator,

investing
the Angie Dodge murder.

And this is kind of a delicate
type of a conversation

we're gonna have here,
but at some point,

your brother Adam
was a person of interest.

Are you aware of that?

I-I wondered if you would be
willing to...

to tell me the circumstances
of his death

if... if you don't mind.

And I-I knew that, but, I mean,
do you know why, or...

Oh, my.

Okay, so, there's DNA
related to this case,

and they've never found
the donor of that DNA.

So, I-I-I would like to ask
a favor of you,

and I-I don't know
how you feel about it,

but if we could take your DNA
and test it because...

Yeah, because your DNA and
his DNA are almost identical.

Okay.

You know, it was one of
those awkward situations

because I'm gonna talk about
his brother's suicide,

and, man,
he was great about it,

and he said,
"Oh, absolutely."

Gave us his DNA.

There's another guy that...
He's a registered sex offender.

He's got a lengthy
criminal history.

This guy lives in a house.

He's got a-all the windows
closed up.

I didn't think he was ever
gonna open the door,

but he did.
He opened the door.

So, I asked him for DNA,
if he'd be willing to consent,

and, um, he said no,
but anyway,

we... we've got his DNA,
but he doesn't know it, so...

Oh, wow!

If he didn't just give it
to you, how'd you get it?

I really don't wanna
talk about that.

Okay.
No problem.

If... If you don't want
to talk about it,

I can assure you
I don't want to hear about it.

So, this is my bag of evidence,

the DNA that we've been
collecting throughout the week.

From here, I am going to be
sending it to a lab.

What happens from there
is kind of out of my hands.

Chris wrote to us

at the Idaho Innocence Project
saying,

"There's DNA,
and I'm excluded."

So, it wasn't clear to us
why he would've been convicted

with that very firm evidence
in his favor.

For years,
the state has conducted

lots of rounds
of new DNA testing

using several generations
of new technologies

with the hypothesis
Chris Tapp is guilty,

but he's not on anything
that's been tested.

The evidence was clear
there was a single attacker

who was definitely, positively,
scientifically not Chris Tapp.

Do you want a Quantifiler
or a Identifiler?

Identifiler.

So, in April,
we're getting this hearing

to look at the DNA evidence

and decide, does Chris Tapp
deserve a new trial?

All of his efforts to
date in the courts have failed,

but Chris is fortunate enough to
have one more bite at the apple.

The two hearings in April
will deal with two issues...

DNA testing
and there was some information

that was not turned over
to the defense

at the time of the trial,
including polygraph interviews.

If the judge
rules in our favor,

then hopefully,
I'll be home by the summertime.

And if not, then
what else can I do?

I am off
to Judge Mike Heavey's house

because he volunteered his time

as an expert on this case.

I'm looking forward to seeing
what he thinks

about Chris Tapp's
interrogation.

Judge Heavey?
Ira Todd.

How you doing, sir?

Detective Todd,
come on in.

Let's go downstairs.

I started an organization,

Judges for Justice,

to change public opinion
about wrongful convictions.

By 2013, I was in Idaho Falls
meeting John Thomas,

Carol Dodge,
and Chris,

and then I sat down
for two years,

probably 20 hours a week,

going through
different interrogations,

and then I saw how Tapp
ended up telling

six separate
and distinct stories

over a-a
3 1/2-week period.

Chris Tapp told story number 1,
"I don't know anything,"

and then I saw on story number
6, "I stabbed her."

Right.
Whoa!

Where does that
come from?

And I couldn't
figure out why

he would suddenly say that
out of the blue.

I finally saw that
he's given a polygraph

before each of
the five story changes...Mm-hmm.

...and discovered
the January 15th,

polygraph was never
produced to the defens.

I call that the Rosetta Stone
of the polygraphs.

It explains exactly
how they're trying to convince

and coerce Tapp
into believing the polygraph

is saying
he's at the crime.

It was part of a trick. Right.

It's... It's legal to trick
and to lie to somebody

during an interrogation.

You can trick,
manipulate, and lie...

Right. ...during
an interrogation,

but you can'tdo it
during a polygraph.

Right.It's supposed to be used
just for the assessment

of credibility
of the witness,

but they took this
way beyond that.

Yeah.
They broke him, you know?

They mentally destroyed
this young man.

Yeah.

I can't agree
with you more,

and there's no evidence that
the missing polygraph video

was ever given
to, uh, Tapp's trial council

back in '97 and '98.

And that is
a Brady violation.

The prosecution
has a duty

to give any and all

exculpatory, uh, information
to the defense.

So, we started
these videos,

and when we got them
on our website,

we got
over 10,000 views.

That resulted in people
circling the courthouse

with signs saying
"Free Tapp."

So when the judge
drives into the courthouse,

he's going, "Oh, there's
certainly a lot of people

who think he's innocent.

I think I'll pay attention
to this case."

Wow.

Would this be an opportunity
for a new trial

or would he
get exonerated?

April 25th, there's a hearing
on the polygraph videos,

but there's no evidence
against Chris Tapp.

So I think if
we get to a hearing

and show the judge
those polygraph videos,

Chris Tapp
is out immediately.

Okay,
see if we can't locate

old Mr. Finn,
the polygrapher.

In a quarter mile,
turn right onto First Street.

I know you'll be interested
in talking to him. Yeah.

I mean, if you watch
those polygraph tapes,

it will upset you.

Let's see.
Is it one of these?

Yes.

That's it.
Right here, Ira.

We got a chance to talk
to Finn and Fuhriman.

Oh? KUBY: Uh-huh?

And we went
to Finn's house first,

the polygrapher.

We want to talk
to you about

that, uh,
Christopher Tapp case.

Want to see
if we can, uh,

talk to you a little bit
about that.

You're not gonna
go into it?

Finn comes to the door,
and the first thing he said,

"Hey, I don't want
to talk to you guys,"

and then he wound up talking
to us for an hour or so, right?

Yeah.

And he said
he gave him that polygraph

in conjunction with appropriate
policies and procedures.

He was just adamant
that Chris Tapp was responsible

for the murder
of Angie Dodge.

But you definitely think
Chris Tapp is guilty?

You got... Oh, yeah?

And you think that
because of what?

Wow.

And what was it
that stood out at you

up there in her apartment
that he...

And you guys never revealed
any of that information to him?

All right.

Was that video
when he went to the scene

and took you guys
back to the scene?

See, well, why not?

Because that would've been
critical if you'd... if you'd...

No video reenactment?

Yeah, if you would've
videoed that,

it would at least show him
pointing out the things,

and nobody can say,

"Hey, no, the cops told him
where it was," you know?

And you think it was definitely
three people?

But you just...
That's based on gut?

And so, and the...
the information that you

extracted from
the interviews...

So, that's telling us
that Tapp

had to at least tell you

there was
two other people involved.

He in his mind thinks
he did that polygraph correctly

is what... what
blows my mind.

He thinks, in his mind,
that this dude did it.

That was
very interesting.

All right,
so we're gonna see

if we can't locate
old Jared Fuhriman, Ira.

Newly minted detective
when this case happened,

and, uh, he ended up becoming
the mayor of Idaho Falls.

That's kind of interesting,
huh?

Maybe he got famous
from this case?

Name recognition.
Yeah.

So, you got Finn
to talk for an hour.

Yes.What happened
with Fuhriman?

Whoa, Fuhriman.

So, when Joe and I
are walking up,

Fuhriman is coming out...

him and his wife
are in the car.

And this guy looks,

and he says
something funny to us.

No.
No, no, no.

But when we announced who we
were and what we were there for,

all of a sudden, he couldn't
remember certain things,

and his wife
started talking for him.

Yeah.

Yeah, but th--
but that's okay.

We just... We just want
to just kind of talk to him

about some of the stuff,
and it's nothing, you know...

we're not trying to,
like, drill him down

or "What about this?
What about this?"

Now, Finn had already
told us

Fuhriman's having some problems
with his memory.

Early stages of Alzheimer's
he'd been diagnosed. Yeah.

Oh, wow. Uh-huh. Okay.

And his wife said that he
couldn't run for mayor again...

Right....because his memory is bad
and things like that.

Right.
Yeah, I know.

Sure. Sure.

Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah.

Now,
Fuhriman's the driver,

and I said,
"Well, can you drive?"

You know, if you lost your memory,
would you remember a stop sign?"

I mean, he...

Yeah.

Yeah.
Yeah.

My... My...

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Okay.

-Yeah.
-Yeah.

His wife's
body language clearly changed.

Oh, yeah. Very defensive.

And he was trying
to stare through us, so... Yes!

I mean, it was almost like
we'd ask him a question,

and he was just, like...
Now he's staring straight ahead

as if he's trying to recall.
Yes.

His mannerisms,
his nonverbals,

all those little indicators
changed, like, immediately

as soon as he found out
what we were there for.

Well, we...
I-I mean, in fairness to him,

the Alzheimer's
has been diagnosed.

I-it has.

But he's still sharp enough
to know to shut up.

Yeah.

I mean, he was not gonna
do himself any favors

by... by talking
with you guys.

-Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.
-Okay.

Thank you
for your time.

We definitely
appreciate your time.Yeah. Thank you.

Danny called me.

He's got some very important
information to pass to us.

So, I thought what we'd do
is reach out,

try to catch him on Skype
this morning to see what it is.

Good morning.

What's going on? What's going on, Danny?

So, the prosecutor
is in negotiations

with Chris' attorney,

and they are looking
to offer him a deal.

What?!
Wow!

Basically,
he gets out of prison,

which of course for him,
that's great,

but the rest of it's
really bad news.

He will remain convicted
of first-degree murder,

he will remain convicted of rape

and be
a registered sex offender,

and have probation anywhere
from 7 to 10 years.

So, any offense at all,
you know...

Will land him
back in.

Exactly.

I mean, he could go back in
and do significant time.

It's pretty obvious

that with some of the hearings
coming up,

their case is crumbling,

and I think they're trying
to avoid additional publicity.

But if he takes
this plea,

he's throwing away his chances
of any type of civil suit.

Is Chris thinking of
taking the deal?

My impression is that
John Thomas, the attorney,

is not thrilled about the deal,
but Chris wants out of prison.

Although he's hopeful we will
find out who the killer is

and get him out of prison,

he has to legitimately say,
"But when?"

All right.
See you, Danny.

Bye-bye.

That's fucked up.

Yeah, that's...
that's a little interesting.

Feels like extortion
to me.

If he's on probation,

- he has prison hanging over him
at all times. - Oh.

He can't do anything,
really.

Having prison hanging over him
and being in prison...I agree.

...I suspect, are two radically
different things, so...

Look,
people will still look at him

like he's a murderer.

Absolutely. Yep.

You know, he'll... he'll...
he'll carry that reputation

for the rest of his life,
you know?

Absolutely, Ira.

We've been, uh,
pulling some DNA

Mm-hmm.

And we were hoping
you could tell us

if these individuals matched
the DNA from our suspect.

Not a match.

I'm watching you like
you're grading my final exam.

That's what
it feels like.

I'm looking
for any sign.

Not a match.

Now, just out of curiosity,
what exactly are you looking at

when you're...
when you're reading those?

So, this is
really simple analysis.

I mean, if I were able
to show it to you,

it would look kind of like,
you know, two bingo cards,

uh, and you're just
comparing to see

if those two bingo cards
are identical.

And I'm just looking to see
if they align.

Just to double-check.

Yeah, not a match.

Okay.

Not a match.

Yeah, might be
a tiny bit closer,

but not...
not close enough

to be an interesting lead,
genetically.

Well, that is disappointing,
but, um...

Well, I'll tell you,

you're not the first
to try to solve this,

and I think this is gonna be
a very tough case to break

because I've seen
so many good suspects.

I just learned
long ago

that all of the people
I thought were good candidates,

nobody's panned out.

So, um, I j-- It's just
a complete mystery to me.

The last two weeks
have been insane.

The negotiations have been
a roller coaster.

It's gone from no deal
to there's absolutely a deal,

back to no deal.

The judge is ready
to talk to you guys

over in
the Centennial Chambers.

Okay, I'll be there
in a minute.

Thanks.

Okay,
let's shut it down, guys,

and, uh,
right before 11:00, okay?Okay.

I want to make sure
everybody's over there.

I don't know what to feel.

We have done
a complete 360 turnaround

from just days before.

Yeah?

Let me
get him in there.

The prosecutor asked me
what I wanted,

and I told him,

"Chris doesn't want to be
on probation or on parole.

He doesn't want to be
a sex offender.

He doesn't want to have to
answer to anybody.

He just wants
to be done completely."

And the prosecutor said,
"Let's do it."

But until the judge has
accepted it, it's not a deal.

Will there be any
victim-impact statements today?

There will,
Your Honor.

We'd like the court
to first hear from Carol Dodge.

Okay.
Go ahead, Ms. Dodge.

Sitting here today,

a whole flood of memories
came back, Chris,

the day that we stood here
and chose your jury...

...the jury that convicted you.

Little did we know
what we know now,

and with great sadness...

...20 years of your life
has been taken from you.

I can't imagine that...

...knowing what we know now,

that anyone
can convict someone...

that there's no DNA,

but we've learned a lot,
Chris...

a great deal.

I have definitely
learned a lot,

and I'm saddened
that I don't see

any of the Idaho Falls
Police Department here,

representing my daughter,

saying that they'll help me
find justice.

I'm so saddened,
but I'm extremely, extremely...

...happy for you
that you have your life back.

Although it's not the deal
that your mother wanted.

It's not the deal I wanted.

It's a-a cynic saying that for
right now, we'll set you free.

Somewhat.

Your new journey is not
going to be an easy one, Chris,

but stay clean and stay sober.

Stay on track.

Thank you, Ms. Dodge.

I hereby rule as follows...

the rape charge is hereby
dismissed with prejudice,

and the defendant, Mr. Tapp,
having been found guilty

of the charge of murder
in the first degree,

that the defendant is guilty
of that offense.

And his sentence on
that offense is amended to

a unified, fixed term
of 20 years

plus any additional time
that you, Mr. Tapp,

have served up to
and including today.

You are receiving credit
by order of this court

for all the time served
with the intent

that you be released
from custody today,

your sentence having been
completed or satisfied.

You will be free to go.

Bye, Chris.

Tell 'em, brother!

No, we're good.

You're gonna go
all the way out.

Victory! Victory!

Yes! Whoo!

An innocent man
is free.

Innocent man!
Victory!Freedom!

Freedom!Freedom.

Yes!

We are ecstatic that
Chris Tapp is walking free.

Chris Tapp is innocent,

and I will shout that from the
rooftops until the day I die.

And for the person, uh,
who did kill Angie Dodge,

uh, there's a bounty
on your head.

There are 50 cameras here,

and there are people
coming for you.

And we are looking for you,

and we will not stop
until we find you.

And when we do find you,
we will bring you to justice

because that's
the right thing to do.

We are sorry.

It's so good
to see you.

I never in a million years

thought that this
was gonna happen

without actually
finding the killer.

Should we
go back in?

Yeah.
Let me say goodbye to people.Okay.

A lot of people told Chris,
"Don't take the deal.

It's a terrible deal."

But Chris said,
"John, this is what I want.

This is the safest route
to get me out, you know?"

And he was having to
talk me into it

'cause we're giving
something up.

There's still
a murder conviction.

So glad
to see you, Chris!

But Chris said, "John, how many
post-convictions have we filed?

How many times have we been,
you know,

u-up to the Supreme Court,"

and he's like,
"Every time, we've lost.

We've lost, we've lost.

This time, we can walk away.

How you feeling, Chris?Overwhelmed.

For Chris Tapp,
the deal that he struck is,

to me, the last
shameless manipulation of Tapp

by the criminal justice system.

It is a sad day for justice

because Chris Tapp
is a convicted murderer

of a crime he had
absolutely nothing to do with,

but Chris Tapp is free today.

And that's what we started out
wanting to do.

Let's do the victory,
everyone.

Yes! Victory!

And I think the message
came across really clear...

he's an innocent man.

I says,
"For you to take this deal,"

I says, "I don't appreciate it."

I says, "But you know what?
I'll take it."

He's home.

Mm! Man!

I've been waiting 20 years
for this.

Oh!
Oh!

Jer.

How you doing?

I'm scared
and frustrated.

Yeah?
Overwhelmed, really.

Well,
what's your plan?

I'm gonna be around
for a few days.

I'd like to be able to just
spend some time with you.

I know you're gonna be
really busy.

Today's gonna be
really bad,

but, like, they're coming over
tomorrow night.

Let's get together in th--
tomorrow.

Okay. Your mom and everybody's
got my phone number.

We're on our way
to pick up Chris Tapp.

Yesterday was the first time I-I
seen him in person in 20 years.

I did not visit him in jail.

I was, uh,
a little upset with him

for most of his stay in jail.

There was about 17 years,
and, yeah, I didn't want to...

didn't want to think about it
or accept it at all.

Okay.

I hated Chris so bad.

"How could he name me?
What the hell?

I thought we were friends."

It hurt so bad.

I couldn't go anywhere
or do anything

without this being
a huge part of it,

so I left town,

and i-it's affected me
for a long time.

All of a sudden,
Judge Heavey comes out

with his Judges for Justice
videotapes,

and... and what an eye-opener.

What an eye-opener to see

the way that they were behaving
to Chris and...

At that point,
I felt so bad for hating him

and... and being so mad,

sitting here watching
what he went through.

Hey, Jer.

Uh, I'm lost.

I'm at 816?

I will be standing
on the front porch right now.

Aha!
We found him.

That's right.

Okay, so...

Hi, buddy.

Are you all right?

Yeah,
it's been a while, you know?

How you doing?
Good, bro.

Did you sleep?
No.

It's kinda hard.Wigged out already.

Yeah. When we went to
Kohl's to go shopping,

I already wigged out.

Had my first...
Aah?

Aah!
And ran out of the store.

Yeah?
So, yeah.

It's been...
been one of those pieces.

We can do whatever
you want to do this afternoon.Yeah.

Yeah, dude.Don't trip on me.

You're free, man. Dude.I know. So...

It's so overwhelming.
So much to do.

Yeah?
But...

Well, we got years
to get through it.That's it.

Let's get out of here.
I'm hungry.

Thank you, everybody,
for being here today.

In June 1996,

the Dodge family
and the city of Idaho Falls...

experienced the death of
a young girl named Angie Dodge.

We're very empathetic
to the Dodge family...

especially Carol.

For the loss of her daughter,

we continue to look for new ways
to identify Angie's killer.

So, today, we're here
to introduce a picture

referred to as a DNA phenotype

in hopes of providing
the department with new leads.

This DNA phenotype
gives a profile

of what the DNA donor
could look like,

and then it was age-enhanced

to 20 years later.

Thank you, everybody,
for your cooperation of this,

and please,
get this out in the public

so that we can receive tips.

Phenotyping has proven
to be reliable

in terms of actually
getting a suspect.

You know, basically,
they're looking at eye color,

hair color, freckling,
that type stuff.

This right here is a way

of pointing us
in the right direction.

And they won't
try to tell you

that it's gonna tell you
who the suspect is.Right.

They make that disclaimer
right up front,

but what it does is it...
it... it at least gives you

a guide path of someone

or, hey, this is what,
in all probability,

what your suspect
should look like.

Right. It's almost perfect
for a cold case...

Oh, yeah. ...where
we've got nothing.

So,
it gives us something. Yeah. Yeah.

I'm on my way over
to Chris Tapp's house.

I want to talk with him about
why he felt pressured to confess

and just kind of
get a feel for...

what kind of person he is

and if he's 100% innocent.

So, let's go
all the way back there.

Were you on drugs
during that time?

I was trying
to get clean.

I was smoking some weed
off and on, here or there,

but methamphetamines
and stuff like that, no.

Okay, and they take you
directly to the station?

Right.Were you under arrest?

No. They told me
I wasn't under arrest.

But were you
free to leave?

After they were done with me.

And why didn't you think
you were free to leave?

Because you could hear
the lock on the door.

So, they locked you in? Yeah.

And so, all the stuff
you told them was a lie?Yeah.

Total lie?
Yeah.

So, you never cut Angie at all?
No.

Ever? I never... Like I
said, I never cut Angie.

I never
held Angie down.

I've never been
to Angie's apartment

till the police department
took me there.

You ever stabbed anybody? No.

You ever shot anybody?
No.

Ever killed anybody?
No.

You had no idea
who killed Angie?

None.

So, why would
an innocent man

confess to a crime
that he didn't do?

'Cause I wanted
to go home.

'Cause I kept believing
that it was gonna be okay.

I kept believing the words that
they would keep telling me,

that it was gonna be
all right.

They could help me,
and it'd be okay.

You ever wanted
to talk to them?

No. Hell, no.
Why not?

The Idaho Falls
Police Department

will never admit
they made a mistake. You hate them?

If they were on fire, you wouldn't
piss on them to put them out?

I wouldn't.

I'd just turn my back
and walk away.

That's what
they did to me.

Wow.

How do you feel about it
right now?

What about the pain
you're going through?

I see it, too.
Y-You got to let it go, man.

You got to...
I'm good.

No, but you got to let it out.
I'm good.

You're full.
Talk to me about it.

It just hurts.

How does an innocent person
sit in jail the whole time,

knowing that
he's innocent?

Y-You lose yourself
in prison.

I lost myself in prison
for years.

One of
my true friends,

he told me
I'm one of the most nicest,

caring persons
in the world.

And to a certain degree,
I am.

But you do things in prison
to survive.

And I know that
there's a mean streak in me now.

What do you
think about?

Everything you lose.

What'd you lose?I had a father.

I had family.
You know what I mean?

At the start
of all this,

I had people turn their back
on me and my family.

You know,
I lost a lot.

For... For the...
Ever since I've come home,

I just tell people
that I'm good.

You know what I mean?

But you're not.
I survive.

You know what I mean?
Yeah.

For that, I guess,
I'm thankful.

I walked away from there
thinking like,

"This guy is the most honest guy
I ever met in my life."

I'm sitting there
looking at him,

and he's reliving it,

and, you know,
watching him tear up,

and this guy just seems
so genuine to me.

And all it'd take, really,

is for someone
to stop the madness, you know?

Say, "Hey, we made a mistake."

No one's willing to say that.

So, here we are,
21 years later,

trying to find out
who killed Angie Dodge.

Police work
and the justice system

is not about closing cases.

It's about getting it right

'cause everybody suffers when
the wrong person is locked up.

I think you better
make dang well sure

that you got
the right person,

because let me tell you,
they have ruined this family.

But that's okay.

We'll figure it out.

We'll just take it
one day at a time, you know,

and just go on
and, you know,

it's just like
having a kid.

They don't give you a manual
when you have a kid.

No. And that's just
what we're gonna do,

is start all over again,
you know?

You've been gone
for 20 years.

They don't give us a manual
about when a-a person comes back

out of being incarcerated,
you know?

I think there's a book,
but don't quote me.No, yeah, well,

we... we better hurry and find
it because we're gonna need it.

We're fighters.

We'll bounce back.